Thursday, August 21, 2014

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*Mo'Ne Davis Mania: 6 Ks, but tagged for a few runs that ultimately cost Philly the game vs. Nevada. They are in a must-win vs. equally desperate Chicago.

*Kevin Durant gets $265M offer from Under Armour: Would be shocked if Nike matched, and it's the most interesting endorsement/marketing deal in a generation -- since LeBron picked Nike, arguably. UA's offer reportedly includes paying for a rec center in the name of Durant's mom, but I'd also love to see Durant and UA collaborate on an early-stage investment fund.

*Parenting: I relayed this on Twitter last night, but I took Gabe and Jonah to the Nats game last night, and we were on pace to stick around for a complete game 2-0 win until Tyler Clippard gave up the tying runs in the 8th. We had to get going. So we listened to the rest of the game in the car ride home, which is its own novel experience for the kids -- it's dark, you're hurtling down the highway and the excitable baritone of the local play-by-play person is cutting through the void. Naturally, the Nats won in a walk-off in the bottom of the 9th, and the three of us capped the night by screaming our heads off along with WJFK's Charlie Slowes. Not quite as fun as being at the park for it, but not bad.

(Oh, also: We had pretty amazing seats - first row behind first base, directly to the right of the dugout and photographer well, and new fave Denard Span took a few minutes before the game to sign autographs for kids, including Gabe and Jonah. Hat-tip to the autograph-hounding teen who crashed our row for letting us borrow his Sharpie. Then, after the top of the 4th, Adam LaRoche flipped the inning-ending ball to Gabe -- Jonah and I were on the concourse getting him Dippin' Dots, obviously. The enthusiastic 9-year-old girl sitting directly behind Gabe -- dressed in near-full Nats uniform -- later got her own ball from Nats 1B coach Tony Tarasco, along with a T-shirt from the Nats cheerleaders, after me and her parents pointed frantically at her until the cheerleaders spotted her. Between the seats and the ball and the autographs, it's possible that at 8 and 5, Gabe and Jonah had the peak at-the-game experience they'll ever have.)

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

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*Johnny Manziel gives the Redskins bench the finger: He has been in the league for, like, two weeks, and already Manziel is doing things that only add to his mythology. I'm not sure how worked up you can (or should) get over it -- it's so "Johnny being Johnny" as to be hilarious -- but it's the digit that is going to launch a million hours of #HotTakes today, that's for sure.

*Phil Simms not saying the name "Redskins" on the air is the most seismic shift yet in the rhetorical battle over the name (from, frankly, an unlikely source).

I wonder if Simms will backtrack -- it's too prominent, and CBS is too invested in an NFL too invested in supporting Snyder. (That said: If there is no backtracking, by extension that means that both the CBS and NFL have tacitly approved of Simms' stand, which is its own thunderous statement.)

Peter King coming out against the name -- vowing not to use it -- a year ago was a big deal. So was Christine Brennan, who followed King by a few days. Slate not using it is consistent with Slate's values (if the opposite of a #slatepitch!).

I have argued from the start that the ultimate barrier isn't even ESPN, which is far more likely to give its personnel the choice over whether to conscientiously object or not, but the AP, as a style rule.

*Ohio State loses QB Braxton Miller: Depending on how long he is out, that's worth re-doing an AP or Coaches' Top 25 ballot before the season even starts; OSU goes from consensus favorite to go unbeaten and reach the playoff to hard-pressed to even win the Big Ten.

*Oklahoma is talented enough to get by without suspended 5-star freshman RB Joe Mixon, but securing a spot in the Playoff 4 will be decided at the margins. And at the margins, Mixon was a potential difference-maker.

*The clubhouse leader for best story of the NFL season has got to
be that Jerry Jones' son had to physically yank a draft card saying
"Johnny Manziel" out of his dad's hand before the elder Jones could turn
it in to pick the QB. It's like the Yoink Heard 'Round the World.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.